Preface

This on-line book came into existence because of the various allegations, exaggerations and fabrications surrounding the perils of Italian navigator and explorer Cristoforo Colombus or better known as Christopher Columbus. I found that many accounts and translations of his discoveries were not only limited, but were maliciously altered for the benefit of European contribution. Upon my teachings and lectures, I have discovered that very few are fully aware of the proper historical accounts of the journeys of Christopher Columbus. In fact, very few Americans are aware of the historical stamps surrounding the discovery of Western land. I wrote this book for the sole purpose of providing the more realistic stories of the journey of 1492. Upon my research, I came across many sources that I found disturbing regarding the subject of this book. Murder, rape, suicide, torture, mutilation, castration, impalement and disembowelment were only the less serious crimes committed against the Natives of this land. This book is not intended for young readers, for it does contain these disturbing accounts. I urge anyone reading this book to cross reference the information that you may find. I encourage the reader to research the information for him/ herself if there is any doubt to the bloody atrocities of Christopher Columbus that was performed on Native Americans. You will find in the back of this book a list of verifiable references. I encourage this for the reason that it has been in the nature of many to reject such valuable information that is not supported by a European source. This is a disease of our people. We constantly question our own and readily accept that which is offered by those who do not have our best interest in mind. Therefore, for the sake of argument, I have supplied the reader with information to verify this information with the European. Upon writing this book, I have come to the conclusion that I would face most opposition from various angles. My earlier publications generated many concerns. Publications such as this may often be coined as exaggerated, racist, or untrue. Meanwhile, such study guides and learning text books that foretell the many myths of the African Slave Trade or the Pilgrim's friendly encounter with the Powhatan are considered to be truthful accounts and hardly require any validation from other sources. While this may indeed be a double standard, I understand that history is exactly what it sounds like, his-story, and whenever we try to tell our own story of our own people, or when I try to tell my-story, it is coined as myth or mystery. Some may ask, What is the importance of knowing these things today? My answer to that is that if you want to destroy a people's future, you simply change their past. Our children must never be exposed to such damaging propaganda as the lie that Christopher Columbus

discovered America. We must promote the truth without hesitation and without resentment. The journey of 1492 marked a very sad and unfortunate chapter in our history. All people should be aware of the brutality and sins that fell upon this nation. This publication may anger many for it forces those of us to face our own thoughts. It is our thoughts that we fear the most. It is the so-called truths that we question secretly when we are alone and void of external influence. It is imperative that I state that this publication is not my philosophy or theory or belief. The information in this publication is not an alter scenario. The information in this publication is indeed factual and honest and has nothing to do with philosophies. I recently spoke with a woman from Germany who is studying for her Ph.D.. We were discussing the origins of the Indigenous Native Americans. Upon coming across the Lost Feather Site and the accounts of West Africans migrating to America in the Pre-Columbian era, she responded: I'm not sure if I agree with that theory. I explained to her that it is not a philosophy or theory to agree with or disagree with. It is history that has been kept hidden from us for hundreds of years and only such tribes as the Seminole, Creek, Cherokee, Hopi, Navajo, and others have preserved these accounts. This history has now been exposed to the European world and archeological circles. In other words, It is not your place to agree or disagree. The effort to make this publication could not be possible without the help of Indigenous Americans who helped to supply historical accounts for the content of this book. We urge you to forward this book to friends and family who may be interested in learning the truth one of the greatest historical myths of the world. Robert Strongrivers Author

Who was Columbus?

Who was Christopher Columbus? According to American History, Columbus was the Italian navigator who discovered the New World that we today refer to as America. On 1492, Christopher Columbus, on behalf of the Spanish Monarch, sailed to the New World, discovered friendly Native Americans and made his mark in history. This is what your children are taught. However, who was the real Christopher Columbus? For four hundred years you have been grotesquely lied to and have been fed fabrications regarding one of the greatest stories ever told. The ordeals of Columbus was one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of the world. It was indeed a holocaust that displayed a great genocide of a people and fueled the very slave industry of West Africans to Europe. Unbeknownst to many Americans, Christopher Columbus named himself. Columbus believed that he was chosen by God to be the Christ of the Western World. Christo from the Latin, Christ and Phore, meaning Carrier or Messenger. Christophore comes from the Ecclesiastical Greek which literally means, Bearing Christ. The word Columbus comes from the Latin Columbussi meaning dove which is the symbol used in Christianity to denote the descending of God upon the Earth in the form of Christ (symbolic of Columbus descending on the Western World). Columbus chose this name because of his expedition to the West which was on behalf of the Spanish Monarchs. The expedition was originally funded to establish Christianity to foreign nations with hopes of subjecting foreign nations to the religious rules of Spain. The 1492 journey was meant to be a political monopoly. American history perpetuates the Columbus story by introducing the Flat World theory in which history claims that Columbus was the first to prove that the earth was round. It is stated that Columbus bravely forged his ships ahead while his crew were in fear that they would fall off the edge of the Earth. Let's take an intellectual look at this theory. Do we want to believe in 1492, people were so intellectually incompetent they would think the Earth was a flat piece of land when there is archaeological proof that the Olmecs, Arawaks and Tainos drew images

on stone of planets? Does not the Earth look round? The earth casts a shadow on the moon, ships disappear over the horizon, hull first and then the sail. The sun and the moon are round. Why, then, would the Earth be an exception? The entire Flat World theory was fabricated and then added into the Columbus story to add a nice dramatic flourish. The story was made up by a man by the name of Washington Irving who popularized the Columbus fable in 1828. Irving admitted to fabricating this story to make for better reading. The Flat World theory can not be found in history prior to 1828. The problem with this fabrication is that it invites the reader to believe that the inhabitants of the Earth in 1492 were the primitives who had a crude understanding of cosmology, but it is evident that pre-Columbian and Meso Americans such as the Incas, Aztecs and Mayas did in fact have an almost technological overview of astrology. Irving also stated that Columbus journey in 1492 was a three month journey with strong wind and storms, but in fact it was a one month journey with smooth sailing, according to Columbus own logs. It is stated that Columbus was a Jew. How did he pass a Spaniard? Columbus father, Deminico Colombo, was a poor wool weaver who practiced his trade in the city of Genova. Deminico was an Italian who married a woman by the name of Susana Fontarosa who was of Jewish ancestry. We know that she was a Jew from the accounts of Hebraic dowry which included family land and a house that was brought into the marriage to Deminico. Columbus was born in 1451 as an Italian Jew. Columbus himself married a Portuguese noble by the name of Felipa Moniz Perestello. Columbus did not marry her out of love, but he was pressured into marrying into nobility by his father Deminico. A member of Felipas family was the governor of Porto Santo. Lets look at some strange facts about Columbus 1. Columbus spoke Spanish while living in Italy. Quite unusual unless his family originated in Spain. However, Columbus parents were not Spanish, but supposedly Italian. The only Spanish speaking people in Italy at that time were Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. 2. Columbus was known to frequent the company of Jews who were known astronomers and translators of the Bible. Throughout his life, Columbus possessed an in-depth knowledge of the Bible and often spoke of Jerusalem very highly. 3. The date of Columbus voyage in 1492 coincidentally matches the ninth of Ave, the Jewish fast of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem temples. Columbus begged various leaders to finance his 1492 journey. Why didn't he simply ask the Portuguese since he was linked to Portuguese nobles through his wife? In 1483, Columbus did present his idea of sailing West to King John II of Portugal. The king regarded the trip as not financially beneficial and did not wish to finance the trip. Columbus also made outrageous demands. Columbus wanted to be made Grand Admiral of the ocean sea as well as Governor of all the islands and main lands that he should discover. He also wanted 1/10 of all the King's revenue and be granted in charge of all foreign trade. These demands tipped the scale with the King. The King realized that if these demands were met, Columbus would actually have more dominion than himself. The King did, however, finance the trip, but without Columbus stipulations. The departure date for Columbus expedition was March 1,1487. Not one picture of Columbus was painted during his lifetime. There are hundreds of portraits of Christopher Columbus. Some depict Columbus with blonde hair and blue eyes (Spaniard), while others depict Columbus with black hair and a dark complexion (Jew). The sail never took place. It was a complete failure. The wind currents were not in favor of Columbus on that day , so the expedition was postponed and the King withdrew all interest. King John secretly began planning to launch his own expedition to the West. When Columbus discovered the King's betrayal, Columbus sailed to Spain to find funding for his trip, hoping to win the race to the West and win the Western monopoly against the Portuguese.

Columbus asked various renown men for funding and was turned away each time. Eventually, Columbus found himself in front of King Fernindad and Queen Isabella of Spain. King Fernindad and Queen Isabella had agreed to finance the journey with the notion that Columbus would establish the Spanish flag on whatever land was found in the West which would establish an overseas colonial empire and bring great wealth and power to Spain. Columbus also agreed to reimburse the Spanish Monarch with whatever gold or precious resources that was discovered. Columbus prepared and the journey was financed under contract. The contract stated that Columbus would be made viceroy over all territories he found and be warded 1/10 of gold and other precious stones found. The expedition consisted of the Santa Mara, a decked ship about 30 m (about 100 ft) long under his command and the Pinta and the Nia, two small caravels, each about 15 m (about 50 ft) long, which were commanded by Martn Alonzo Pinzn and his brother Vicente Yez Pinzn. The fleet sailed from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, on August 3, 1492, carrying perhaps 90 men.

Letter to Columbus from The King and Queen

FERDINAND and ELIZABETH, . . .

For as much of you, Christopher Columbus, are going by our command, with some of our vessels and men, to discover and subdue some Islands and Continent in the ocean, and it is hoped that by God's assistance, some of the said Islands and Continent in the ocean will be discovered and conquered by your means and conduct, therefore it is but just and reasonable, that since you expose yourself to such danger to serve us, you should be rewarded for it. And we being willing to honor and favor you for the reasons aforesaid; Our will is, That you, Christopher Columbus, after discovering and conquering said Islands and Continent in said ocean, or any of them, shall be our Admiral of the said Islands and Continent you shall so discover and conquer; and that you be our Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor in them, and that for the future, you may call and stile yourself, D. Christopher Columbus, and that your sons and successors in the said employment, may call themselves Dons, Admirals, Viceroys, and Governors of them; and that you may exercise the office of Admiral, with the charge of Viceroy and Governor of the said Islands and Continent, which you and your Lieutenants shall conquer, and freely decide all causes, civil and criminal, appertaining to the said employment of Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor, as you shall think fit in justice, and as the Admirals of our kingdoms use to do; and that you have power to punish offender; and you and your Lieutenants exercise the employment of Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor, in all things belonging to the said offices, or any of them; and that you enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employment, and to each of them, in the same manner as the High Admiral of our kingdoms does. And by this our letter, or a copy of it signed by a Public Notary: We command Prince John, our most dearly beloved Son, the Infants, Dukes, Prelates, Marquises. Great Masters and Military Orders, Priors, Commanders, our Counselors, Judges, and other Officers of Justice whatsoever, belonging to our Household, Courts, and Chancery, and Constables of Castles, Strong Houses, and others, and all Corporations, Bailiffs, Governors, Judges, Commanders, Sea Officers; and the Aldermen, Common Council, Officers, and Good People of all Cities, Lands, and Places in our Kingdoms and Dominions, and in those you shall conquer and subdue, and the captains, masters, mates, and other officers and sailors, our natural subjects now being, or that shall be for the time to come, and any of them, that when you shall have discovered the said Islands and Continent in the ocean; and you, or any that shall have your commission, shall have taken the usual oath in such cases, that they for the future, look upon you as long as you shall live, and after you, your son and heir, and so from one heir to another forever, as our Admiral on our said Ocean, and Viceroy and Governor of the said Islands and Continent, by you, Christopher Columbus, discovered and conquered; and that they treat and your Lieutenants, by you appointed, for executed the employment of Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor, as such in all respects, and give you all the perquisites and other things belonging

and appertaining to the said offices; and allow, and cause to be allowed you, all the honors, graces, concessions, prehaminences, prerogatives, immunities, and other things, or any of them which are due to you, by virtue of your commands of Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor, and to be observed completely, so that nothing be diminished; and that they make no objection to this, or any part of it, nor suffer it to be made; forasmuch as we from this time forward, by this our letter, bestow on you the employment of Admiral, Viceroy, and perpetual Governor forever; and we put you into possession of the said offices, and of every of them, and full power to use and exercise them, and to receive the perquisites and salaries belonging to them, or any of them, as was said above. Concerning al which things, if it be requisite, and you shall desire it, We command our Chancellor, Notaries, and other Officers, to pass, seal, and deliver to you, our Letter of Privilege, in such form and legal manner, as you shall require or stand in need of. And that none of them presume to do any thing to the contrary, upon pain of our displeasure, and forfeiture of 30 ducats for each offense. And we command him, who shall show them this our Letter, that he summon them to appear before us at our Court, where we shall then be, within fifteen days after such summons, under the said penalty. Under which same, we also commanded any Public Notary whatsoever, that he give to him that shows it him, a certificate under his seal, that we may know how our command is obeyed.

GIVEN at Granada, on the 30th of April, in the year of our Lord, 1492.--

I, THE KING, I, THE QUEEN.

Three days out, the mast of the ship was damaged, forcing a brief stop at the Canary Islands. On September 6th, the three vessels again weighed anchor and sailed due west. Columbus maintained this course until October 7th, when, at the suggestion of Martn Pinzn, it was altered to southwest. Meanwhile, the experienced crew grumbled about their foreign commander's failure to find his way and began to turn on Columbus, until signs appeared that they were approaching landfall.

Before dawn on October 12th, land was sighted and early in the morning, the expedition landed on Guanahani, an island in the Bahamas. Before an audience of uncomprehending black islanders, Columbus claimed that, by right of conquest, their island now belonged to

Spain and renamed it San Salvador ("Holy Savior"). Additional landings made during the next few weeks included the islands of Cuba, which Columbus named Juana, in honor of a Spanish princess, and Espaola, was later corrupted to Hispanola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti), all believed by Columbus to be in Asian waters. Who was the first to step foot on land? The first to step foot on Western land was Columbus navigator of the Nina. He was an African Moor named Piedro El-Negrito who Columbus called Peter the Little Nigger. Peter was a high commander of the expedition because he was a Moor and spoke Spanish, Latin and Arabic and served as translator for Columbus on many of his journeys. When Peter stepped foot on the island of Espanola, he was greeted by a black king who greeted him in a dialect of Aramaic, the language primarily spoken in West Africa. It is stated that Columbus was frightened to un-board his ship until he knew that the natives were not warlike. What a hero! Who did Columbus encounter when he reached the western lands? Columbus first encountered a band of Arawak Native Americans. Columbus initial impression of these people were favorable. Columbus stated that these people were very docile and would make good servants. The Arawaks were very hospitable to Columbus and his crew. When Columbus noticed that the natives had gold hanging from their noses, he inquired about the tribe's wealth. Not knowing of Columbus intentions, the natives told Columbus of plentiful gold including a solid gold cup which was owned by the king of the tribe. The next morning, Columbus set out to the other side of the island where he encountered two villages. In his own words, Columbus said, I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men and govern them as I please.

Columbus' Agenda
Is it true that Columbus was a slave runner? Absolutely! On his first journey, Columbus kidnaped some 10-25 Arawak natives and took them back to Spain. Out of the 25, only seven arrived alive along with birds, gold nuggets and other exotica. After bearing witness to this, Queen Isabella provided Columbus with 17 ships, 1,500 men, cannons, crossbows, guns and attack dogs for the second voyage. Columbus new mission was to conquer the docile West. When Columbus returned to Haiti and the Americas in 1493, he took grain, gold, cotton, whatever the natives had, including the women! To ensure cooperation, Columbus used punishment by example. Whenever a native refused to cooperate, his ear or nose would be cut off. The disfigured person was then sent back to his village as living evidence. After a while, the natives had enough and resisted against Columbus. The Arawaks resistance gave Columbus an excuse to make war in which he was well armed. On March 25, 1495, Columbus set out to destroy the native Columbus organized 200 foot soldiers and 20 calvaries with crossbows, cannons, lances, swords, horses and hunting dogs which were set loose on small children. The dogs tore the children's bellies open and ripped them apart. The natives were chased into bushes where wooden skewers awaited them. Those natives that were not killed were captured, raped and then beheaded. Having yet found no gold, Columbus did return some small amounts of wealth to the political monarch of Spain. In 1495, Columbus initiated a slave raid by rounding up 1,500 Arawaks and selected 500 of the best specimens (which 200 died en route to Spain). Another 500 were taken as slaves for Columbus men who stayed in Haiti. A reign of terror began where Columbus began hunting natives for dog food. Columbus was upset that he still had not located the gold in which he was certain he would find.

The cutting off of Native's hands by the Spanish

Letter from Columbus to the Queen and King

(1494)

Most High and Mighty Sovereigns,

In obedience to your Highness' commands, and with submission to superior judgment, I will say whatever occurs to me in reference to the colonization and commerce of the Island of Espanola, and of the other islands, both those already discovered and those that may be discovered hereafter. In the first place, as regards the Island of Espanola: Inasmuch as the number of colonists who desire to go thither amounts to two thousand, owing to the land being safer and better for farming and trading, and because it will serve as a place to which they can return and from which they can carry on trade with the neighboring islands. That in the said island there shall be founded three or four towns, situated in the most convenient places, and that the settlers who are there be assigned to the aforesaid places and towns. That for the better and more speedy colonization of the said island, no one shall have liberty to collect gold in it except those who have taken out colonists' papers, and have built houses for their abode, in the town in which they are, that they may live united and in greater safety. That each town shall have its alcalde [Mayor] ... and its notary public, as is the use and custom in Castile. That there shall be a church, and parish priests or friars to administer the sacraments, to perform divine worship, and for the conversion of the Indians. That none of the colonists shall go to seek gold without a license from the governor or alcalde of the town where he lives; and that he must first take oath to return to the place whence he sets out, for the purpose of registering faithfully all the gold he may have found, and to return once a month, or once a week, as the time may have been set for him, to render account and show

the quantity of said gold; and that this shall be written down by the notary before the aIcalde, or, if it seems better, that a friar or priest, deputed for the purpose, shall be also present That all the gold thus brought in shall be smelted immediately, and stamped with some mark that shall distinguish each town; and that the portion which belongs to your Highness shall be weighed, and given and consigned to each alcalde in his own town, and registered by the above mentioned priest or friar, so that it shall not pass through the hands of only one person, and there shall he no opportunity to conceal the truth. That all gold that may be found without the mark of one of the said towns in the possession of any one who has once registered in accordance with the above order shall be taken as forfeited, and that the accuser shall have one portion of it and your Highness the other. That one per centum of all the gold that may be found shall be set aside for building churches and adorning the same, and for the support of the priests or friars belonging to them; and, if it should be thought proper to pay any thing to the alcaldes or notaries for their services, or for ensuring the faithful perforce of their duties, that this amount shall be sent to the governor or treasurer who may be appointed there by your Highness. As regards the division of the gold, and the share that ought to be reserved for your Highness, this, in my opinion, must be left to the aforesaid governor and treasurer, because it will have to be greater or less according to the quantity of gold that may be found. Or, should it seem preferable, your Highness might, for the space of one year, take one half, and the collector the other, and a better arrangement for the division be made afterward. That if the said alcaldes or notaries shall commit or be privy to any fraud, punishment shall be provided, and the same for the colonists who shall not have declared all the gold they have. That in the said island there shall be a treasurer, with a clerk to assist him, who shall receive all the gold belonging to your Highness, and the alcaldes and notaries of the towns shall each keep a record of what they deliver to the said treasurer. As, in the eagerness to get gold, every one will wish, naturally, to engage in its search in preference to any other employment, it seems to me that the privilege of going to look for gold ought to be withheld during some portion of each year, that there may be opportunity to have the other business necessary for the island performed. In regard to the discovery of new countries, I think permission should be granted to all that wish to go, and more liberality used in the matter of the fifth, making the tax easier, in some fair way, in order that many may be disposed to go on voyages. I will now give my opinion about ships going to the said Island of Espanola, and the order that should be maintained; and that is, that the said ships should only be allowed to discharge in one or two ports designated for the purpose, and should register there whatever cargo they bring or unload; and when the time for their departure comes, that they should sail from these same ports, and register all the cargo they take in, that nothing may be concealed. In reference to the transportation of gold from the island to Castile, that all of it should be taken on board the ship, both that belonging to your Highness and the property of every one else; that it should all be placed in one chest with two locks, with their keys, and that the master of the vessel keep one key and some person selected by the governor and treasurer the other; that there should come with the gold, for a testimony, a list of all that has been put into the said chest, properly marked, so that each owner may receive his own; and that, for the faithful performance of this duty, if any gold whatsoever is found outside of the said chest in any way, be it little or much, it shall be forfeited to your Highness. That all the ships that come from the said island shall be obliged to make their proper discharge in the port of Cadiz, and that no person shall disembark or other person be permitted to go on board until the ship has been visited by the person or persons deputed for that purpose, in the said city, by your Highness, to whom the master shall show all that he carries, and exhibit the manifest of all the cargo, it may be seen and examined if the said ship brings any thing hidden and not known at the time of lading. That the chest in which the said gold has been carried shall be opened in the presence of the magistrates of the said city of Cadiz, and of the person deputed for that purpose by your Highness, and his own property be given to each owner. I beg your Highness to hold me in your protection; and I remain, praying our Lord God for your Highness' lives and the increase of much greater States.

You mentioned that Columbus was sending payment back to Spain. What type of payment was he sending back?

Columbus son, Ferdinand, had set up a tribute system where the natives promised to pay a tribute to the Catholic sovereigns every three months. Every person over 14 years of age had to pay a large hawks bell of gold dust from the gold mine. All others were to pay 25 pounds of cotton. Anyone who did not cooperate with the system were decapitated at the hands. The system eventually failed because its demands were impossible for the natives to live up to. Columbus then replaced the system with what he called The Encomieda System, in which he commanded the entire native villages to individual groups of colonists. Since it was not considered slavery but indentured servitude, it was not looked upon as immoral by the religious orders of Europe. This system opened the doors for slavery in Mexico, Peru and Florida, which was introduced by the Conquistadors. This system caused an incredible depopulation of Native Americans. Native American population decreased from 60,000 natives in 1492 to 4,000 in 1516. As a result of suffering, many natives committed mass suicide by the hundreds. Pregnant women aborted their own fetuses. Others, after delivery, killed their children with their own hands to spare them of an oppressive slavery. Some natives managed to escape to Cuba but were soon followed. According to Benjamin Keen, Thanks to the sinister Indian slave trade and labor politics initiated by Columbus, fewer than 200 natives inhabited Haiti by 1555.

How many slaves did Columbus take back to Spain? Columbus was the very first man known in history to send the first slaves across the Atlantic. Other nations rushed to emulate Columbus. In 1501, the Portuguese began to depopulate the Beotuk Indians to Cape Verde as slaves. Charleston, South Carolina became a major port for exporting Indians slaves. The Pilgrims and Puritans (Dutch settlers now referred to as Amish) sold survivors of the Pequot war into slavery in Bermuda in 1637. The French shipped the entire Natchez Nation in chains to the West Indies in 1731. In 1715, the British double-crossed the Yamasee and took them as slaves in Georgia. The most disgusting aspect of Columbus slave raid was his 1493 expedition to the Carib Islands where he rewarded his crew with Indian women to make as sex slaves. The slave trade destroyed entire Indian nations. Because thousands of Indians died, this led to the massive slave trade across the Atlantic to Africa to replace the dead Indians. The first African slave raid took place in 1505 and was spearheaded by Columbus son. History does not capture the true story of Columbus. He is depicted as a role model who discovered the West and made friends with the Indians. Columbus is responsible for not only the depopulation of Native Americas, but if it wasn't for the slavery of Western natives, there would have never been slavery of the Africans. Did Columbus ever find the gold? In 1499, Columbus finally found gold in Haiti in significant amounts. However, the Portuguese, French and British joined in on the conquering of the West. These nations were not as brutal as Columbus and the Spaniards. The French did not make the natives carry them around on their backs like horses. The British did not colonize America by forcing Indian slave labor, but simply pushed the natives out of the way where they migrated to Mexico and Florida.

The African route to the West

So it's safe to call Columbus a racist? Among other things, Columbus was an alcoholic and a homosexual who was fond of the native men in which, according to personal logs, he found excitement in watching the naked native men. Columbus stated that the natives were the finest specimen of men that he had ever seen. Columbus logs reflect an increasing racism. Columbus considered the natives as cruel and stupid, A people warlike and numerous whose customs and religion is inferior to ours. Columbus was also responsible for the spreading of small pox and syphilis, not only in America but in Spain where many natives and Spaniards died. You mentioned that Columbus was also responsible for the African slave trade. Please explain in detail. As stated before, when the natives of the Americas began dying and committing suicide, the labor was replaced with slaves from the Sahara in West Africa. Also, the gold and silver that Columbus extracted from the West fueled a 400% inflation that eroded the economies of most non-European countries and helped Europe to develop a global market system and Africa suffered. The Trans-Saharan trade collapsed because America supplied more gold and silver than the African West Coast. African traders now only had one commodity that Europe wanted, slaves! African Arabs thus sold their own people into slavery for such things as Spanish wine and bottles of rum. These bloody atrocities left a legacy of genocide and slavery that history books seem to want to rewrite. History would rather indoctrinate us with mindless endorsements of colonialism that's nothing more than a myth to perpetuate European superiority.

The Hispanola Trade Routes

Why, then, are we being lied to? Queen Isabella of Spain supported Columbus voyage with the notion that he would establish colonization. The question is, why would she support a religious mission to convert inhabitants of the Western region if the land wasn't occupied? The land was occupied, everyone agrees to that. Why, then, are we using the terminology discovered when pertaining to Columbus? There was no discovery! Historians try to insinuate that the term discovered is being used in the context of Columbus experiencing a realization of new land that he had no prior knowledge of. This is incorrect. Columbus did have knowledge of the land. He would have not begged the monarchs for money, put himself in debt with the monarchs of Spain, traveled one month across the sea if he had no idea that there would be a destination. Queen Isabella would not have financed such a journey if there wasn't any indication that Columbus would be arriving on land. Columbus had more than an idea that land existed to the West. He knew of what he had heard about gold, spices, rubber and wealth being abundant in the West. Also, Columbus didn't just realize that he had found something, he actually laid claim to the land by establishing political systems on the natives. Historians first say that Columbus was the greatest navigator of his time, then they want to undermine his sadistic personality and paint a picture of him as being naive and unaware of his whereabouts. The question is, if Columbus had not sailed to the West previously, how did he know that there was indeed a West to explore? Columbus knew of the existence of a Western World due to the import and export goods of the Americas via the black Moors of Spain who had been traveling to the West for hundreds of years on world wide currents and winds. The truth is that Chinese, Arab and Moroccan traders had been sailing to the West for centuries before the Europeans. The reason why the term discovered is being used in regards to Columbus is because Columbus opened the doors of the West to the European world and European invasion of the Western world's natural and precious resources, as well as colonization of new territory. Why is Columbus being regarded as a hero? According to Websters New Collegiate Dictionary Hero: 1. A mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent with great strength and ability; 2. An illustrious warrior; 3. A central figure in an event or period.

The European's idea of a hero is a mythological warrior, someone who can cause war and bloodshed! A hero is someone they believe has great strength and ability. The European's definition of a hero has nothing to do with establishing peace on the Earth. Columbus caused much war and bloodshed. He did not want peace. If Columbus wanted peace, his second journey would not have been aided with over 1,000 soldiers, cannons, swords, lances and dogs which is a clear sign that he was preparing for battle. It doesn't sound as if he was preparing for a friendly ball game with the natives. Columbus is not our hero, he is their hero because all of Europe's heroes are Vikings, slave owners and war mongers (Stalin, Marx, Andrew Jackson, Custard). The European praise people like Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and even Adolph Hitler. No Native American or true American in their right mind would ever celebrate the arrival of Columbus. There are even towns and cities in America named after Columbus (Columbus Ohio; Columbia Maryland; Columbia South America; Columbia, Mississippi; Columbia South Carolina, District of Columbia and many more). What is the process of hero-making? Herofication is a process of making people over as extraordinary. Through this process, our educational media turns flesh and blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflict and without fault. This is done with figures like Jesus Christ in which the entire Judea Christian world still believes that he was God in the flesh, a type of religious fanaticism that would be viewed today as insanity. This type of herofication is very harmful for it perpetuates false images of a perfect being which in turn creates such things as mortal worship and idol worship of people who have no more supernatural powers than a comic book hero. Another such figure who is the subject of herofication is Christopher Columbus, who historians claim made the single most profound discovery of all time. Columbus simply stumbled upon something that had been discovered by someone else thousands of years prior. How was Spain's reaction to Columbus discoveries? Ironically, Columbus became a hated main in his own country as well as among the Portuguese. Columbus lost favor with Queen Isabella of Spain. King Don Juan hated Columbus for allowing the territory of Hispanola, Cuba and Lucayos to be left unclaimed. Columbus played as sort of a bounty hunter for King Juan to claim new territory for the Portuguese Monarch. When Columbus failed on his mission, the Portuguese wanted to assassinate him. Columbus also worked for Queen Isabella. Columbus thought that if he could offer the King and Queen of Spain kingdoms, they would make him high rank official or Prince of the Ocean Sea. This office would give Columbus complete control of all importing and exporting in the Spanish sovereignty. He would be as a Captain of the Navy. Columbus was working as a double agent for both Spanish Monarch and Portuguese Monarch. Columbus was excitedly greedy and trying to milk wealth out of both nations. Columbus demanded of Spain 1/3, 1/8 and 1/10 of everything he discovered in the New World. With the Portuguese, Columbus cut a deal with King Juan that a line would be drawn on a map that went from East to West and North to South. Everything that Columbus discovered West of the line belonged to him and everything found East belonged to Portugal. Of course, this would later cause confusion between Spain and Portugal. It is stated that Columbus had been trying to rip off the Portuguese for nearly 14 years. While making promises to both nations, Columbus was holding back on certain discoveries like South America, in which he relayed to the Queen that it was just a small island with no apparent wealth to gain. South America was in fact the cultural paradox of Native American culture. The Queen began to grow suspicious of Columbus after she requested his navigation charts and the names of all the islands he claimed to have discovered, and Columbus was not cooperative in revealing the information. While in South America, King Juan sent a messenger ship to Columbus requesting his return to Europe to clear up the confusion between Portugal and Spain. Apparently, Spanish and Portuguese sea men were butting heads over the same territory. Columbus sent message back to King Juan stating that he could not return home for he was stricken with a terrible illness. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered Officer Francisco Bobadilla to seize Columbus in which he sailed to the West and captured Columbus and

dragged him back to Spain in the nude and disgraced. Francisco Bobadilla was appointed to supersede Columbus in 1499 as new viceroy of Spanish colonies. He was specifically hired to investigate the actions of Columbus and the damages he made.

The killing of Native babies and burning of the mothers

Are you saying that Columbus was also a traitor to his own country? Yes! It is stated that Columbus paid homage to both the Spanish and Portuguese Monarchs and had the ability to change flags whenever it suited him. Columbus main concern was wealth, not loyalty.. This is why he made several secret deals with the Portuguese. You mentioned that Columbus lost favor with the King of Portugal and the Queen of Spain. How many others opposed Columbus? There was an apostolic minister by the name of Father Boil who accused Columbus of being too severe by killing the natives in cold blood. This began a battle between Columbus political influence and support and Father Boils religious power. Father Boil thus suspended the religious sacraments that Columbus asked him to perform on the journey. Columbus retaliated by cutting off Father Boils food supply. Father Boil was forced to retract his moral entanglement with Columbus and return to Spain with intentions of telling the monarchs of Spain that Columbus had deceived them by misappropriating funds and not living up to his promises of returning gold to Spain. This information would displease the Spanish Monarchs who were expecting Columbus to live up to his end of the bargain if they financed his trip. Columbus was then despised by the religious body of Spain and thought of as a war monger. Did Columbus ever try to convert the natives? Whenever Columbus and the Spanish encountered the natives, they would make them swear immediate allegiance to the Pope and the Spanish crown. The natives had no idea who or what a Pope was. Columbus read a statement to the natives that if they would refuse to accept Christianity, the Spanish would powerfully enter into the country and make war. The Spanish did not wait for a response for the simple fact that the natives had trouble understanding the language and there was no official interpreter. The natives were

immediately enslaved and thrown onto ships to be carted back to Spain as slaves. The natives did not wish to submit to the Spanish's white God that was in the image of a man dangling from a cross. This was not their idea of being saved. What was the real reason for Columbus journey? Columbus was an experienced explorer who had already sailed to various regions of Africa and Asia. While in Haiti, Columbus came in contact with a spear tip from the Arawak Indians. The spear point was an alloy made of gold, silver and copper which contained the same ratio of alloy found in spear points Columbus found in Africa many years before. Columbus presented this spear point to Queen Isabella who financed his second trip, considering the amounts of wealth to gain. Columbus knew of the wealth in the land of Africa but could only speculate that there was gold in the West as well. It was at this time that Columbus met with King Juan of Portugal who revealed to Columbus a secret route that African traders were taking to the west. This was all new to Columbus. You mentioned that Columbus believed that he was the Messiah of the New World? Of course, this Messiahship title was self appointed by Columbus. Columbus felt that his journey to the New World was prophesied in the Book of Isaiah of the Christian Bible and that the New World was actually the biblical Eden or some type of Utopia. The Spanish believed that Satan himself resided on one of the islands in the West and that the natives were subhuman cannibals who were intended by God to be placed under the authority of Spain to be civilized. This is why Queen Isabella wanted to convert the natives. Columbus would paint a red cross on the ground of the land that he conquered to represent the blood of Christ.

The Spanish feeding Native babies to their dogs

How was Columbus responsible for the diseases his crew passed on to the natives? Spain itself was a country of epidemic. Outbreak of plagues and small pox, measles, influenza, diphtheria, typhus, typhoid fever and several venereal diseases swept through Spain and all through Europe. It was Columbus crew (who were actually released criminals set free by the Queen to aid Columbus in return for freedom) who brought the diseases from prisons to the ships and then to the West. Historians are not quite sure what type of plagues

the Spaniards imported from Spain. The historians cannot all agree whether it was alaria, small pox, yellow fever or syphilis. They are in agreement that venereal disease was passed to the natives when the women were raped and molested by the Spaniard, who were exconvicts. Tell me about some of the horrific catastrophes of Columbus invasions of the natives. Columbus armed forces preyed on local communities accompanied by ferocious attack dogs that were trained to disembowel. Columbus crew killed without provocation and indiscreetly for sport. The troupes went on a spree of killing, raping, stealing, torturing and disfiguring. Columbus soldiers massacred more than 50,000 natives. In March 1495, Columbus gathered several hundred armored soldiers and slaughtered thousands of unarmed natives just to establish his Spanish rule on Western land. Spanish missionary Bartolome De Le Casas recalled: So they would cut of the Indian's hands and leave them dangling by a shred of skin and they would send them him saying, Go now, spread the news to your chiefs. They would test their swords and their manly strength on captured Indians and place bets on the slicing off of heads or cutting bodies in half with one blow. They burned and hanged captured chiefs. According to Spanish reports, the Spanish tore babies from their mothers breast by the feet and flung their bodies against the rocks several times until the babys brains splattered. They would then throw pieces of the babys brain to their hungry dogs while the mothers watched on. In another report, Las Casas witnessed Columbus men inventing torture techniques like hanging gibbets which strangled thirteen natives at once. The Spaniards also wrapped straw around the bodies of the natives and set them on fire. The most sadistic report is the impaling of babies by thrusting iron rods down the babys throat until it punctured through the anus. The babies were then roasted over a fire like pigs to be eaten, all while the mothers were forced to watch.

Columbus' Ships
Were all the natives subject to this unimaginable cruelty? No, those who were not exposed to this cruelty were forced to work in the mines. Others died of disease and malnutrition. The Ecomienda System greater increased the cruelty to the point where the natives just simply committed suicide. Seven thousand babies died in three months and by 1496, the population of Espanola had decreased from eight million to four million. By 1508, it was less than 100,000 and by 1518, it was less than 20,000. Scholars say that in 1535, the native population of Espanola was less than twenty!

The killing of natives through pit spiking

We always hear of Native Americans being great warriors. Why didnt they fight back? Do not be indoctrinated by European fabrications. It is a myth that Native Americans were savage and fierce warriors. This was fabricated to justify the Europeans waging war on a literally helpless nation of people. When Columbus arrived in the Western islands in 1492, the natives were very docile for they had no reason to be hostile towards Columbus who, at first, showed no aggression towards them. The natives were a peaceful people who were very esoteric and had not previously engaged in many battles. However, the natives did try to launch several unsuccessful attacks and ambushes, but with the combination of superior weapons, cannons, dogs, swords and sickness, the natives were wiped out. The Spanish even burned the natives crops so that they would starve. David E. Stannard, author of American Holocaust, stated that if every white person and every black person in America died today, it could not measure up to the death of Native Americans by the hands of Columbus and his Spanish counterparts. How could someone be so sadistic? Spain and Europe was plagued by many diseases. In Spain, only two social classes existed. The wealthy were the monarchs and the poor were the remaining population. The social structure caused inflation which produced national famine and malnutrition. This caused an outbreak of street crimes and violence. This was the cause for a very chaotic society with little law enforcement to protect the common people. Criminals began to form resistance parties against the King and Queen. Only the rich were protected. Within years to come, many of the traditionalist turned to religion in which were bits and piece of Catholicism and Druid Paganism. The political government ordered the round up of these religious practitioners and executed thousands by burning them at the stake. Among the poorer class, there was a staggering infant mortality rate. Three out of ten babies in Spain did not live long enough to see their first birthday. The people who could not take care of their children sold them to the upper class as slaves. Children slaves were just as expensive as adult slaves and female slaves were even more expensive and men would pay higher prices for female children for their own sexual pleasures. Spanish men purchased girls as young as six years of age for sex. For a family wanting to increase the price on the sale of a girl child, a rich Spanish noble would pay double for a pregnant girl. To increase the pay, the father would impregnate his

young daughter in order to gain more money. Soon, the rich stopped paying for slaves and began abducting children from the streets. Columbus was a product of this environment. Violence was rapid throughout Europe. There were riots, witch hunts, lynch mobs, prostitutes and torture. Historians will claim that cannibalism originated with the islanders. It has been documented that ritualistic cannibalism existed in Europe, including Spain, Rome, Ireland and Portugal. In 1476 in Milan Spain, a man was torn into pieces by an enraged mob and his dismembered limbs were eaten by his attackers. In Paris and Lyon, Huguenots were killed and butchered and their various body parts were sold on the streets in a meat market. This is why Spain never condemned Columbus for his treatment of the Native Americans because it was done during the time of Conquest.

The burning of Natives

Discover: To make known or visible - to obtain sight or knowledge for the first time. Conquest: The act of conquering territory appropriate in battle, overcome by force of arms, collect. When referring to Christopher Columbus, it was not a discovery but it was a conquest. Most historians will agree that the Columbus story has been altered a great deal and herofied. However, they will try to stay away from various details concerning his role in the Transatlantic Slave Capture. Professor Robert H. Fuson claims that Columbus encountered warlike and unattractive natives. The truth is that, according to Columbus own logs, the natives showed nothing but hospitality and love for Columbus and his crew. It was also documented that Columbus thought of these people as very attractive and even handsome. If it was not for the natives, Columbus and his crew would have starved to death in 1492. Professor Fuson goes on to state that Columbus did not run Indian slaves but that history misrepresented and misinterpreted Columbus. Fuson goes on to say that Columbus had nothing but love and respect for the natives and that he had the utmost intent to simply introduce them to Christ and ignore the fact they there was gold on the land. Fuson insists that this is a true account, based on the fact that Columbus was a devout Christian. Professor Fuson states that Columbus was courageous, loyal, religious and the best navigator of his time. Lets take a look at another devout Christian.

The 911 deaths orchestrated by Christian Minister Jim Jones

There is much documented proof that Columbus was a swindler, charlatan, pirate, thief, fanatic, hypocrite, liar, slave runner, murderer, alcoholic as well as homosexual. Columbus did not have sincere admiration for the natives. Columbus only concern was securing the gold and if the natives would not willfully hand it over, he and his soldiers would take the gold by force.

Lieutenant Appleton Miles of the U.S. Army ordered the death of 400 Sioux Indians at the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Miles was also a so-called, devout Christian!

Modern slaughter of Brazilians by Christian missionaries

Is it true that Columbus was a great navigator? On Columbus 1492 journey, he had no clue of his whereabouts. Columbus made incredible navigational errors. Columbus thought that the circumference of the earth was 204,000 miles in which he underestimated by 25%. Upon reaching the shores of Espanola, Columbus initially thought that he had landed in China. He then retracted his ignorance and thought that he was in the East Indies. Columbus made grave geographical mistakes of distance and location. However, Professor Fuson claims that Columbus had excellent knowledge of distance and speed. Dr. Fuson makes the excuse for Columbus errors by stating that the determination of latitude and longitude at the equator was not established until after 1669.. Asian and African traders had been successfully sailing to West without maps and charts since the 5th Century. Asian and African traders such as Hsu-Shen (Hexian) of the Shang Dynasty of China in 459 A.D. and the Idrisid of Morocco in the 4th and 5th Century traveled to America . Asians and Africans chartered islands by sailing on drift routes, winds and tides like the Canary Current, North Equatorial Current, Gulf Stream and Northern Western line Winds which travel West of the Atlantic. Columbus had no in-depth knowledge of these routes. He knew that they existed but he had no idea of the routes. Columbus relied on the compass for his journeys. Earlier sailors were celestial sailors who used the stars to navigate their ships to their destination. Columbus was not skilled in celestial mapping. Columbus relied on deadreckoning navigation.

Celestial navigator tool

Could you explain what different types of Navigation there are? At the end of the 15th Century, celestial navigation was just being developed in Europe, primarily by the Portuguese. Prior to the development of celestial navigation, sailors navigated by "deduced" (or "dead") reckoning, hereafter called DR. This was the method used by Columbus and most other sailors of his era. In DR, the navigator finds his position by measuring the course and distance he has sailed from some known point. Starting from a known point, such as a port, the navigator measures out his course and distance from that point on a chart, pricking the chart with a pin to mark the new position. Each day's ending position would be the starting point for the next day's course-and-distance measurement. In order for this method to work, the navigator needs a way to measure his course and a way to measure the distance sailed. Course was measured by a magnetic compass, which had been known in Europe since at least 1183. Distance was determined by a time and speed calculation, the navigator multiplied the speed of the vessel (in miles per hour) by the time traveled to get the distance. In Columbus' day, the ship's speed was measured by throwing a piece of flotsam over the side of the ship. There were two marks on the ship's rail a measured distance apart. When the flotsam passed the forward mark, the pilot would start a quick chant, and when it passed the aft mark, the pilot would stop chanting (the exact words to such a chant are part of a lost oral tradition of medieval navigation). The pilot would note the last syllable reached in the chant, and he had a mnemonic that would convert that syllable into a speed in miles per hour. This method would not work when the ship was moving very slowly, since the chant would run to the end before the flotsam had reached the aft mark. Speed (and distance) was measured every hour. The officer of the watch would keep track of the speed and course sailed every hour by using a toleta or traverse board. This was a pegboard with holes radiating from the center along every point of the compass. The peg was moved from the center along the course traveled, for the distance made during that hour. After four hours, another peg was used to represent the distance made good in leagues during the whole watch. At the end of the day, the total distance and course for the day was transferred to the chart. Columbus was the first sailor (that we know of) who kept a detailed log of his voyages, but only the log of the first voyage survived in any detail. It is by these records that we know how Columbus navigated and how we know that he was primarily a DR navigator. Since DR is dependent upon continuous measurements of course and distance sailed, we should expect that any log kept by a DR navigator would have these records, and this is exactly what Columbus' log looked like. If Columbus had been a celestial navigator, we would expect to see continuous records of celestial observations, but Columbus' log does not show such records during either of the transatlantic portions of the first voyage. It has been

thought by some scholars that Columbus was a celestial navigator anyway and kept his celestial records hidden for some unknown reason (this supposition is necessary to support some theories of the first landfall), but this hypothesis does not hold water. Columbus' ships were steered by helmsmen at a tiller below the quarterdeck. The helmsmen could not see the sky, so the only way they could keep a course was by magnetic compass. The officer of the deck had his own compass and he would call down course changes as necessary. This means that the courses used aboard ship (and in the log) would have been magnetic courses. Now suppose that Columbus was using unrecorded celestial checks on his latitude as he sailed west on his first voyage. In that case, as magnetic variation pulled his course southward from true west, he would have noticed the discrepancy from his celestial observations and he would have corrected it. In other words, if Columbus was a celestial navigator, we would expect to see a series of small intermittent course corrections in order to stay at a celestially determined latitude. These corrections should occur about every three or four days, perhaps more often, but that is not what the log shows. On the first voyage westbound, Columbus sticks doggedly to his (magnetic) westward course for weeks at a time. Only three times does Columbus depart from this course, once because of contrary winds and twice to chase false signs of land southwest. In none of these cases does he show any desire to return to a celestially-determined latitude. This argument is a killer for the celestial hypothesis and was first made by Rear Admiral Bob McNitt (USN) in 1992. Well then, could Columbus have corrected his compasses by checking them against the stars -- and thus avoid the need for course corrections? This would have been possible in theory, but we know that Columbus could not have actually done this. On his return voyage in 1493, Columbus started from Samana Bay on the north Coast of Hispaniola and he made landfall at Santa Maria Island in the Azores. We know all of his DR courses and distances between these two points since they're recorded in his log. Following these courses and distances using a corrected compass puts Columbus over two hundred miles southeast of the Azores at the time he should be in sight of them. The only way to get from Hispaniola to the Azores using Columbus' recorded courses and distances is to assume that he was using an uncorrected compass and that he was pulled leftward by westerly magnetic variation in the Atlantic. Applying the same assumptions to the westward voyage shows that Columbus must have been using dead reckoning rather than celestial navigation, because of the absence of course corrections. On the westward passage, this same magnetic variation would have pulled his fleet leftward into the southern Bahama Islands, where most landfall theories put him. In celestial navigation, the navigator observes celestial bodies (sun, moon and stars) to measure his latitude (in Columbus day, it was usually impossible to measure your longitude.) Even in ancient times, it was fairly easy to find your latitude by looking at the sun and stars, as long as you weren't too concerned about accuracy. Each star has a celestial latitude, or declination. If you know the declination of a star that is directly overhead, that's the same as your latitude on earth. Even if a star isn't directly overhead, if you can measure the angle between the star and the overhead point (called the zenith), you can still determine your latitude that way -- provided you measure the star at the time of night that it is highest in the sky. However, in the Mediterranean Sea, it's not very useful to find your latitude because your latitude is roughly the same wherever you are. In those confined waters, dead reckoning was the easiest way to navigate. It was not until the 15th Century, when Portuguese mariners began to make long voyages north and south along the Coast of Africa, that celestial determination of latitude began to be useful for southern European sailors. Columbus was from Genoa, one of the leading Mediterranean ports, and he must have learned his dead reckoning navigation from Genoese pilots. But he had spent time in Portugal and was aware of all the new ideas in navigation, including celestial navigation. So on his first voyage, he made at least five separate attempts to measure his latitude using celestial methods. Not one of these attempts was successful, in part because of bad luck and in part because of Columbus' own ignorance of celestial techniques and tools. Could this had been the reason for Columbus poor navigation? After navigating successfully across the Atlantic using his familiar dead reckoning methods, Columbus tried to find his latitude using the quadrant on October 30, 1492. At the time, he was at Puerto de Mares, Cuba, usually identified with the modern Puerto Gibara at about 20

degrees North latitude, but the result he obtained from the quadrant was 42 degrees. He made another reading from the same place on November 2nd and got the same flawed result. Continuing along the Coast of Cuba, Columbus again tried a quadrant latitude reading on November 21st and again came up with 42 degrees. Columbus was by now aware that the quadrant reading was incorrect, but he dutifully recorded the reading in his log anyway -- he blamed the quadrant for the bad result and remarked that he would not take any more readings until the quadrant could be fixed. Columbus made two separate attempts to measure his latitude by two different methods on December 13th while anchored in a harbor in northern Haiti. Columbus had read works by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy and he knew that Ptolemy often referred to a city's latitude according to the length of daylight at the summer solstice (more northerly places have longer daylight at summer solstice). December 13th was the day after the winter solstice in 1492, which is just as good for latitude measurements (because the length of daylight at summer solstice is about the same as the length of night at winter solstice). Columbus took the opportunity to measure the length of daylight, finding that the day was 10 hours long. This is also a fairly bad result, but Columbus did not convert the daylight measurement into a latitude probably because he did not know enough trigonometry to do so. That night, he made his second attempt to determine latitude within 24 hours. Going back to the quadrant, he again tried to determine the altitude of the North Star and this time got a reading of 34 degrees -- still far from his correct latitude of 19 degrees. Finally, on February 3, 1493, while on the return voyage, Columbus tried to determine the altitude of Polaris using both the quadrant and astrolabe, but the waves were so high he could not get a reading. The quadrant readings Columbus obtained on his first voyage are horrible by any standard. Some have suggested that Columbus mistook another star for Polaris, but that seems ridiculous. Columbus used the stars of Ursa Minor to tell time at night, so he was very familiar with that constellation. In 1983, James E. Kelley, Jr. provided the solution to the mystery: as mentioned above, many quadrants in maritime museums have tangent scales. If Columbus misread the scale, he might have recorded the tangent of his latitude (without the decimal point) instead of his actual latitude. If that were the case, in any case, it is clear that at this point in his career Columbus was not familiar enough with celestial techniques and tools to use them successfully. So it is not surprising that on his second voyage, there is no record that Columbus attempted to use celestial navigation (except for the fraudulent eclipse longitudes). Instead, he stuck to the tried and true dead reckoning practice of "rhumbline sailing", keeping a constant west-by-south course the whole way from Gomera to Dominica in the West Indies. Columbus' measurements would only be wrong by a couple of degrees or so, which is not bad considering the technology. How equipped were Columbus ships? As everyone knows, Columbus had three ships on his first voyage, the Nia, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. The flagship Santa Maria had the nickname La Gallega. It was a nao, which simply means "ship" in old Spanish which today, we might call such a ship a carrack. She was fat and slow, designed for hauling cargo, not for exploration. Some sources say that the Santa Maria was about 100 tons, meaning that it could carry 100 toneladas, which were large casks of wine. There has been much speculation about just how large such a ship would be. The best current thinking, by Carla Rahn Philips, puts the length of Santa Maria at 18 meters, keel length at 12 meters, beam 6 meters and a depth of 3 meters from keel to deck. The Santa Maria had three masts (fore, main and mizzen), each of which carried one large sail. The foresail and mainsail were square; the sail on the mizzen, or rear, mast was a triangular sail known as a lateen. In addition, the ship carried a small square sail on the bowsprit and small topsail on the mainmast above the mainsail. The Pinta was captained by Martn Alonso Pinzn, a leading mariner from the town of Moguer in Andalucia. Pinta was a caravel, a smaller, lighter and faster ship than the tubby Santa Maria. We don't know much about Pinta, but it probably was about 70 tons. Philips puts the length of Pinta at 17 meters, keel length 13 meters, beam 5 meters and depth 2 meters. She probably had three masts and most likely carried sails like those of Santa Maria, except for the topsail and perhaps the spritsail. Smallest of the fleet was the Nia, captained by Vicente Aes Pinzn, brother of Martn. The Nia was another caravel of probably 50 or 60 tons and started from Spain with lateen sails on all masts, but she was refitted in the Canary Islands with square sails on the fore and main

masts. Unlike most ships of the period, Nia may have carried four masts, including a small counter-mizzen at the stern with another lateen sail. This would have made Nia the best of the three ships at sailing upwind. Philips puts her length at 15 meters, keel length 12 meters, beam 5 meters and depth 2 meters.

How fast did they go?

As you can guess, speed of sailing vessels varies considerably with the speed of the wind. Over several days, ships of Columbus' day would average a little less than four knots. Top speed for the vessels was about eight knots and minimum speed was zero. These speeds were quite typical for vessels of the period -- and indeed, typical for the entire Age of Sail up until the time of steamships and clipper ships. So overall, 90 or 100 miles in a day would be typical and 200 phenomenal. Of the three ships on the first voyage, the Santa Maria was the slowest and the Pinta was the fastest. The differences were small, however, perhaps about 0.1 knot between them.

Columbus Crew - Santa Maria

Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus), Captain Juan de la Cosa, Owner and Master Diego de Arana, Master-at-Arms Pedro de Gutierrez, Royal Steward Rodrigo de Escobedo, Secretary of the Fleet Rodrigo Sanchez, Comptroller Diego de Salcedo, Servant of Columbus Luis de Torres, Interpreter Rodrigo de Jerez Alonso Chocero Alonso Clavijo Andres de Yruenes Antonia de Cuellar, Carpenter Bartolome Biues Bartolome de Torres Bartolome Garcia, Boatswain Chachu, Boatswain Cristobal Caro, Goldsmith Diego Bermudez Diego Perez, Painter Domingo de Lequeitio Domingo Vizcaino, Cooper Gonzalo Franco Jacomel Rico Juan, Servant Juan de Jerez Juan de la Placa Juan Martines de Acoque Juan de Medina Juan de Moguer Juan Ruiz de la Pena

Juan Sanchez, Physician Lope, Joiner Maestre Juan Marin de Urtubia Pedro de Terreros, Cabin Boy Pero Nino, Pilot Pedro Yzquierdo Pedro de Lepe Rodrigo Gallego, Servant Crew of the Pinta: Martin Alonso Pinzon, Captain Francisco Martin Pinzon, Master Cristobal Garcia Xalmiento, Pilot Cristobal Quintero, Ship's Owner Francisco Garcia Vallejo Garcia Hernandez, Steward Gomez Rascon Juan Bermudez Juan Quintero Juan Rodriquez Bermejo Pedro de Arcos Alonso de Palos Alvaro Perez Anton Calabres Gil Perez Juan Quadrado Juan Reynal Juan Verde de Triana Juan Vecano Maestre Diego, Surgeon Pedro Tegero Sancho de Rama Crew of the Nia: Vincente Yanez Pinzon, Captain Juan Nino, Owner and Master Francisco Nino Bartolome Roldan, Apprentice Pilot Alonso de Morales, Carpenter Andres de Huelva Bartolome Garcia, Boatswain Diego Lorenzo Fernando de Triana Garcia Alonso Juan Arias, Cabin Boy Juan Arraes Juan Romero Maestre Alonso, Physician Miguel de Soria, Servant Pedro de Soria Pero Arraes Pero Sanches Rodrigo Monge Sancho Ruiz, Pilot

Interesting Facts

So Columbus primarily invaded South America? Columbus sighted Jamaica in 1494 and set up colonies on the island in 1509 in which ruled up until 1655. Jamaica was then captured by a British expedition and transformed to British rule in 1670. By this time, the remaining Arawak tribes had mixed in with the Spanish and British. The Arawaks that did not mix were slaughtered. Columbus captured the island of Haiti in 1492. The Spanish settled in the Eastern half of the island and the Western land was left unclaimed. French pirates then arrived and took the Western half of the island in which they named Haiti. The Eastern island was then named Dominican. The French established a flourishing slave plantation of Arawak Native Americans. The plantation became the worlds richest colony. The plantation held Arawaks and African Moors in bondage up until the 1800s in which the slave population had reached 450,000 slaves. The Arawaks and Moors who mixed in became known as Haitians, while those who mixed in with the French and Spanish became known as Dominicans.

(left) Arawak mixed with Spanish - (right) Arawak Haitian - NATIVE AMERICANS!

Many Arawaks mixed in with the French and were called Mulattos and were shipped out to areas of Louisiana where they became known as French Creole. Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, but did not conquer. The Spanish did not lay claim on the Bahamas until 1648 where they battled the English for the land. Puerto Rico was visited by Columbus in 1493 in which he allowed fellow explorer Juan Ponce De Leon to conquer in 1508. Puerto Rico was originally named, San Juan Bautista and renamed, Rich Port in 1508 when African Moors were brought in as slaves to work the sugar mills. When Columbus arrived in Trinidad in 1498, it was inhabited by two tribes, the Arawaks and Caribs. Columbus named the island Trin-i-dad because of three large rocks in which he claims he named after Trinity. Columbus gave the island of Barbados to the Portuguese as payment. Barbados means Bearded which refers to the African Moors who was on the land. The Moors were Muslims and there was a law that Muslims were not to trim their beard or the corner of their heads.

(left) Jamaican - (right) Bahaman - NATIVE AMERICANS!

(left) Trinidadian - (right) Puerto Rican - NATIVE AMERICANS!

(left) New Orleans Creole (right) Panamanian South American - NATIVE AMERICANS!

What happened to Columbus after the third journey? Columbus returned to Spain broken in health and spirit. He was not received at court. The King refused to restore his privileges and honors. He was, however, far from poor. He had brought back gold and he shared in the gold mined in Hispaniola. He died in Valladolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506. In 1513, Columbus' remains were transferred to a monastery in Seville, where his son Diego had been buried. Their bodies were taken to the Cathedral of Santo Domingo at Hispaniola in 1542. In 1795, a box believed to contain the bones of the father was taken to Havana, then removed to Seville in 1899. In 1877, however, another casket bearing the Admiral's name had been found entombed in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo.

Interesting Facts and Controversies about Columbus Most of the money to finance subsequent exploitation was confiscated by the Spanish Monarchs from Jewish sources, but neither the Jews or the Moslems were permitted to settle in the New World until after 1502. Why did Columbus take an interpreter of Hebrew with him? The only possible explanation must be that he expected to be reaching countries in which Jewish people lived and governed. After the landfall, we do know that Columbus sent his interpreter to communicate with the natives and among the first words addressed to them were words in Hebrew. He kept two logs. One a true log and a second, falsified to keep his crew unaware of how far they had traveled. Historians, however, generally have accepted the account of his birth place as Genoa in 1451, BUT THERE ARE NO RECORDS TO VERIFY THIS. He never wrote in Italian which could indicate that he was illiterate when he left Italy. Most of his letters were written in Spanish. No portrait of him was painted in his lifetime as the age of Spanish portraiture was yet to come. However, no less than 71 originals or copies were exhibited at the Chicago Colombian Exposition in 1893. Many of these, especially those painted by Christians, gave his nose essentially a JEWISH SHAPE. Should we celebrate Columbus Day? That depends on who you ask. The Italians would like to celebrate the occasion as a great achievement of a native son. The Spanish would like to celebrate the event as evidence of their superior culture and their crusading spirit, as a Christian enterprise. Even the Portuguese are proud of the event because, after all, Columbus' success was a direct result of the Portuguese naval experiences in the Atlantic, the offshore islands of the Azores and the Canaries and a full century of voyages along the Western Coast of Africa. Most of the best navigators were Portuguese and Genoese. However, as one looks at the bloody facts and the effects that Columbus had on native people in regards to death, disease, torture, slavery, suicides among the natives, killing of new born babies, species extinction, termination of livestock, natural resources and agriculture, one wonders who in their right mind would commemorate such a man and such a bloody chapter in the worlds history. Should we also celebrate the Jewish Holocaust? Despite how Europeans may feel about their hometown boy who they claimed is only 2nd to Jesus Christ himself, SOMEONE HAD TO SUFFER! Native Americans, Blacks and Black Native Americans hold different views than Europeans concerning Columbus. To the Native Americans, the European discovery of America was nothing less than an "INVASION, and

conquering of yet once again, land that was not theirs! To date, no other ethnic group has experienced a genocide such as that of the American Indian at the hands of the European invaders. The Spanish conquistadors regarded the Indians as subhuman upon whom they were conferring a blessing by converting them to Christianity. If they resisted, they were slaughtered. The Indians were regarded as having no property rights and all their land, possessions and women belonged to the Spanish conquerors. Why should we celebrate the 500th anniversary? The Spaniards invaded our culture and forced us into colonial subjugation. The 5th Centennial should not be considered as a triumph of Spain or the West, rather, it is one of the darkest chapters in history. Europe forced us to prostitute ourselves, after they poisoned our minds and filled us with lies, they committed unspeakable atrocities. Columbus himself raped our women and raped our men! He was not the devout Christian that he portrayed and as historians claim. Columbus was ruthless and he was a liar and a thief and whoever celebrates this mans holiday is very ignorant and very evil. Should we participate in a celebration to honor the initiation and continuation of genocide, colonization and exploitation of our people? Spain ought to beg us for a pardon. It's not too late for King Juan Carlos to grant us the respect and dignity which we deserve. If the Germans can grant reparations to Jews for the Holocaust, Spain and Portugal should be granting reparations to Native Americans and Africans for the evil deeds and crimes forced upon us. Columbus was an assassin, and to celebrate Columbus Day would be assisting in the degradation of our people at the hands of the Euros. It is a disgrace and a slap in the face of our people to celebrate the slaughter of our people on our land. Robert Strongrivers Excerpts from Columbus logs They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned...They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance...They would make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want. As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts. I implore you to recognize the Church as a lady and in the name of the Pope take the King as lord of this land and obey his mandates. If you do not do it, I tell you that with the help of God I will enter powerfully against you all. I will make war everywhere and every way that I can. I will subject you to the yoke and obedience to the Church and to his majesty. I will take your women and children and make them slaves. The deaths and injuries that you will receive from here on will be your own fault and not that of his majesty nor of the gentlemen that accompany me After a while they refused to walk any distance. They "rode the backs of Indians" or were carried on hammocks by Indians running in relays (they also had Indians carry large leaves to shade them from the sun and others fan them with goose wings.) "they suffered and died in the mines and other labors in desperate silence, knowing not a soul in the world to whom they could turn for help."